April 18, 2007

2:30 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: All of us around the table care deeply about what happened at Virginia Tech. And I know I can speak for all of us here that we send our prayers to the families of the victims, and we send our prayers to the friends of the victims. And we also send our deep concerns to the Virginia Tech community.

This fine educational institution is going through a lot of trauma¹ and pain, and all of us here care deeply about their lives, and they just need to know it. They need to know people grieve².

I also want to thank the leaders from Congress for coming down. I'm looking forward to what will be a -- one, I suspect, of many conversations on this war in Iraq, and other major foreign policy issues.

We're going to have a very good discussion. People have strong opinions around the table, and I'm looking forward to listening to them. I've got my own opinion, which I'm more than willing to share. The whole objective³ is to figure out how best to get our troops funded, get the money they need to do the job that I've asked them to do.

And so, again, I want to thank you all for coming. I'm looking forward to our discussion.

END 2:32 P.M. EDT